Painfully good ‘Thank You’ depicts PTSD of Iraq War vets
In depicting the difficult adjustment to civilian life of three World War II veterans from the Midwest, “The Best Years of Our Lives” in 1946 became the best attended, most acclaimed film of the year, winning seven Academy Awards.
The taut, tough, occasionally searing “Thank You for Your Service” carries the same theme in portraying the post-Iraq War trauma of three Army vets returning home to Kansas. It won’t attract the box office or Oscars success of that predecessor, but this mostly true-life drama is effective in its own way — painful to watch, at times, because you know it’s so tragically real for so many.
Though stemming from events during the U.S. “surge” campaign in Iraq in 2007, “Thank You for Your Service” takes no stance for or against the war or how it was conducted. Its focus is on the experiences — and particularly their consequences — affecting the sweaty, foul-mouthed, occasionally blood-soaked soldiers carrying out field operations while trying to avoid snipers and roadside bombs.
It can describe these experiences so well because it is based on a nonfiction book of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Finkel. His “Thank You for Your Service” documented the post-traumatic stress disorder that bedeviled the return home of soldiers he had gotten to know while embedded with them in Iraq. (The film’s opening scene carries the “Inspired by true events” tag to caution viewers that Hollywood has taken its usual liberties.) Directorwriter Jason Hall brings experience to the subject matter as the Oscar-nominated screenwriter for “American Sniper.”
While several soldiers’ stories are told, the focus is on Sgt. Adam Schumann, portrayed by Miles Teller, in his best dramatic role since winning raves as the intense young drummer in “Whiplash.” The sergeant has been an effective, even heroic, leader of men,
buthe leaves Iraq wracked by guilt over two particular incidents that injured or killed comrades. He endures hallucinations and nightmares in returning to domestic life with his almost-too-good-tobelieve wife (Haley Bennett). Mr. Teller is terrific without beingshowy.
His war buddies — most particularly Solo, an American Samoan soldier, deftly performed in his vulnerability by newcomer Beulah Koale — have their own issues. The men have money problems and women troubles like many peers in their 20s, but they also must struggle with memory loss, sudden bouts of rage and deeper thoughts of suicide particular to their scars.
In recognizing their need for therapeutic help, the vets seek it from the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is naturally a bureaucratic quagmire of long forms and even longer waits for service. The film does not portray the VA employees as villains. They are mostly well-intentioned and strapped by the numbers game themselves, but the book/movie title is an ironic indictment of the government’s failure to serve its service members.
Unable to get necessary support from the VA and unwilling to share their inner turmoil with the women in their lives, the veterans lean on one another. Their unique, if complicated, bonds are well-described in bouts of foul humor and biting honesty. Speaking of humor, comedian Amy Schumer tries for none in a small but effective dramatic role as a war widow.
The story of how painful this all is for everyone involved is one that needs no embellishment, although a subplot involving Solo and a criminal enterprise intrudes as an unnecessary distraction, most likely “inspired by true events” rather than true. Real facts are sprinkled into the dialogue about the 22 veterans a day committing suicide and the many thousands who would benefit from more mental health assistance than the VA provides.
The reward for an audience willing to spend 108 minutes on an honest testament to that reality is a mournful Bruce Springsteen ballad (“Freedom Cadence”) over the closing credits. We know from experience that Mr. Springsteen lends his music to quality films (“Philadelphia,” “Jerry Maguire,” “The Wrestler”). He has chosen well once more.